1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiation image cassette having a radiation conversion panel for detecting a radiation that has passed through a subject and converting the detected radiation into radiation image information, and a radiation image capturing system incorporating such a radiation image cassette.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the medical field, there have widely been used radiation image capturing apparatus which apply a radiation to a subject and guide the radiation that has passed through the subject to a radiation conversion panel, which captures a radiation image from the radiation. Known forms of the radiation conversion panel include a conventional radiation film for recording a radiation image by way of exposure, and a stimulable phosphor panel for storing radiation energy representing a radiation image in a phosphor and reproducing the radiation image as stimulated light by applying stimulating light to the phosphor. The radiation film with the recorded radiation image is supplied to a developing device to develop the radiation image, or the stimulable phosphor panel is supplied to a reading device in order to read the radiation image as a visible image.
In an operating room or the like, it is necessary to read a recorded radiation image immediately from the radiation conversion panel after the radiation image has been captured, for the purpose of quickly and appropriately treating the patient. As a radiation conversion panel that meets such a requirement, there has been developed a radiation detector having a solid-state detector for converting radiation directly into electric signals or for converting radiation into visible light with a scintillator and then converting the visible light into electric signals, so as to read the detected radiation image.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-141473 discloses a radiation image cassette housing a radiation conversion panel therein and a radiation image capturing system incorporating such a radiation image cassette. According to the disclosed radiation image capturing system, an adapter (recording medium) removed from the radiation image cassette is inserted into an image capturing apparatus, and the image capturing apparatus detects cassette ID information for identifying the radiation image cassette from the recording medium, making it possible to capture a radiation image in the radiation image cassette by the radiation image apparatus.
Generally, a radiation image cassette is assigned to a subject (patient). According to the technology disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-141473, when a radiation image of a certain patient is to be captured, if the radiological technician or surgeon prepares a radiation image cassette for another patient by mistake, removes the recording medium from the wrong radiation image cassette, and inserts it into the image capturing apparatus, then the wrong cassette ID information is registered in the image capturing apparatus. As a result, the radiation image of the certain patient is captured based on the information of the other patient.
When the recording medium is removed from a radiation detecting cassette, electric power starts being supplied from a power unit such as a battery or the like to the radiation conversion panel in the radiation detecting cassette to allow a radiation image to be captured in the radiation conversion panel. However, if the recording medium is lost before it is inserted into the image capturing apparatus, then no radiation image can be captured in the radiation conversion panel, and the electric power from the power unit is wastefully consumed.